HOW TO START YOUR OWN MILLION
DOLLAR TEMPORARY HELP SERVICE
From time to time, every business needs a little extra help. Not enough to justify
hiring a parttime employee or going to the trouble to place an ad in the classifieds
for a temporary position, but someone who can, when the need arises, jump right in and get
busy as if they had worked in that position for years. Perhaps an employee is taking a
short leave of absence--having a new child or taking an extended vacation or medical
leave. Business must go on, but one person short. This is where a temporary help service
can meet the desperate need of business and make a lucrative income in the process.
Temporary help services are businesses with excellent growth potential, indications of
strong stability, and a nationwide market with a growing demand. The risk factor is rated
average or less than most new business ideas. Temporary help services are well suited to
absentee ownership and require no experience or technical knowledge on the part of the
entrepreneur. These services have only minimal equipment needs. Net profits before taxes
for some established temporary help services are over $1,000,000, and some temporary
services are franchise operations. However, you can easily begin your own temporary
service without the added cost and inconvenience of buying a franchise operation.
There+s a difference between regular, private employment agencies and a temporary help
service. The employment agency is a "brokerage" office that matches unemployed
persons with available jobs. The temporary help service hires people onto its own payroll,
sends them out on contract jobs, and pays them accordingly. Temporary help services make
money "off the top." They send out temporary workers on
oneortwodayonly jobs paying $5 to $15 an hour to the worker, and
collecting $20 or more an hour for the time the worker spends on the assignment. More and
more businesses are willing to pay the premium costs for a trained person for just a few
days at a time, rather than to accept the burden of a forty hour per week payroll
obligation and the task of finding enough work to justify the fulltime salary and
benefits. Businesses everywhere are finding it easier to pay more for
"temporaries" than to hire "permanents." That's the secret of success
to keep in mind when selling your services.
The successful temporary help service recruits as many skilled and qualified workers as
possible. These workers differ from the regular jobseekers in that they're looking
for "temporary" work only. For any number of reasons, they're only willing to
work on jobs lasting from one to five days--sometimes longer--rather than accept a
fulltime position. The employee decides when and what jobs he wants to accepts,
freeing him to arrange his work schedule around any family or other matters that might be
more important to him. These persons are ideal for employers needing help but not wanting
to hire and train fulltime employees. Your task will be to find and attract top
people, and to maintain complete files on them: what skills they possess, the kind of jobs
in which they specialize, their attitudes about work, and when or how often they're
willing to work. With this information in your file, you can pull out a suitable employee
any time a business calls requesting a temporary.
Work hard to build your roster of available workers. Each prospective employee should
be tested in your office to determine the extent of his or her skills. Within ninety days
of startup, you want to be able to send someone out to fill any employer's needs,
regardless of the job requirements. Job assignments will range from loading dock and light
clerical work to word processing and even masterofceremonies work. Depending on
the size of your market, you could conceivably specialize in areas of temporary
help--dataprocessing, the medical and legal professions, accounting, or perhaps the
retail trade--and you'd still make a lot of money. However, we are going to show you here
how to start a "fullservice" temporary help agency.
You'll need a good mix of employers in your area for best chances of real success. Your
area can be one of high unemployment or one with relatively few unemployed, it really
doesn't matter. In this day and age, the business community realizes that it is more cost
effective to call in specialists who can handle a job quicker and more efficiently than to
use fulltime employees with little or no training in the task at hand. Rather than
hire new workers, most employers prefer a temporary who can jump right in and finish the
job in the shortest possible time. They are willing to pay top dollar to find these
workers. If you have a good crosssection of available employees from which a business
can choose, you can reap substantial rewards.
The people wanting to affiliate with you as workers will be homemakers, college
students, retired people, folks between jobs, and skilled people who like to work, but
don't want to be tied down to a regular job. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the number
of traditionalists you'll convert to temporary workers once they discover the benefits of
temporary employment.
First, visit your local Chamber of Commerce office. Explain the philosophy of your
service, meet the chamber officers and ask for their help. You'll find that they have a
listing of all the major businesses in the area, plus the names of the people to talk to
in selling your service. If you request, you might be invited to Chamber meetings and be
introduced to the business leaders in your community. The only kind of information they
may not be able to help you with is a listing of doctors, lawyers and small,
homebased, one person enterprises. However, don't neglect contacting these people.
They have a need for varied specialized help just as the larger, more widely known firms
in your community.
You can locate your offices just about anywhere. However, you'll find that your
greatest success will come if you choose a modern office building with other professionals
like lawyers, accountants, and insurance companies. Project a professional image. Locate
in a downtown or business section of your town when you are able to do so. You'll need 600
to 700 square feet of office space. You should have a reception area, two offices, and a
room to store supplies. The more prestigious your business address and office, the better
caliber clientele you'll attract. Those looking for temporary work and employers
considering using your services will doubt your abilities if they aren't favorably
impressed with your image.
A cost saving idea is to rent unused space from a business already established. These
businesses might be sales and distribution offices, suburban insurance agencies, quick
print or copy shops, and repair service shops. Look around. Many businesses had to take
what was available at the time, and would be more than happy to lease or share their
vacant space. Keep in mind though, that you'll do much better with an office of your own,
and you should move into one as soon as you can afford it. Proper facilities that convey a
professional image should be number one on your list of priorities.
It is possible to start this business in your home, but make sure you have the space
for a reception area and at least a semiprivate interview area. Most of your selling
efforts will be conducted by mail, phone, and personal visits to the employer's place of
business, so your office location won't be a problem. However, you may run into zoning
problems if your city zoning people discover a large number of cars parked at your house
every day. It certainly helps to be on good terms with your neighbors, and working by
appointment will help keep traffic under control. Starting your business from home will
require a much smaller initial investment. Rent and advertising will be your largest
expense, so beginning the business from your home is worth considering if your
startup funds are limited.
In actual operation, you could have the applicants interested in your services contact
you by phone. You would then set up appointments either in their homes or your own. If you
began on a parttime basis, you could have a family member or friend answer your phone
and set up appointments for you. If you do begin parttime working out of your home,
you might look into the advantages of a professional telephone answering service or a
cellular phone.
Your business image is projected by your address and the appearance of the building in
which you locate. Your reception area will set a mood of professionalism and efficiency.
The reception area should inviting--walls painted in light pastel colors, several prints
hung in nice frames, and walltowall carpeting. It should also feel comfortable
while remaining functional. Comfortable modern chairs and sofa, a floor lamp or two, and
an attractive reception desk all help to achieve this effect.
Your main office need have only a desk and a comfortable chair facing the door, and
another chair beside or in front of the desk. Your file cabinet can be placed in the
corner. A print or two on the walls and perhaps a bookcase are the only "extras"
you might use to dress up your office. Your second office will feature your equipment and
will be used for testing your applicants. Place a table along the length of two walls,
partition it into cubicles, and have an electric typewriter, word processor, an adding
machine, and perhaps a headset connected to a dictaphone/recorder, all set up for testing
the skills of your various applicants.
Ideally, you should also have a sales office and a storage room. The sales office will
be where you greet and talk with employers who drop in to look you over to find out more
about your business. Mainly, this office will be where your people will work from when
calling prospective clients and selling your services by phone. It can be furnished with a
large conference table around which you host clients interested in the services you
provide--making your presentation with any charts, slides, or videos you have available.
The storage room needs only shelves to hold various forms, mailing pieces, envelopes, and
business records.
One way to hold your startup costs to a minimum is by leasing your office
furnishings and equipment. Whatever you do, remember that you're projecting an image, so
don't settle for less than the best. This is absolutely imperative in regard to any
equipment used for testing your applicants. You might be able to work out an arrangement
with the business department of a local college or business school to send your applicants
to them for testing on their machines. Such an arrangement, even at a cost of $5 to $10
per test, could save you several thousand dollars in startup costs.
The first person you hire should be either an experienced manager or someone you can
quickly train to assume that duty. It's best to hold out for a person with at least one
year experience as a bona fide personnel manager. This person should be outgoing,
detailminded, peopleoriented, and able to work well under pressure without
losing his sense of humor. You don't want someone likely to blow his cool when confronted
with a difficult situation.
Your manager will be responsible for organizing the interview and testing systems, for
setting up your sales solicitation program, and for supervising the temporary workers and
your office staff. It's a highly responsible and demanding position, so don't be reluctant
to spend the money necessary to get the best. You will need to research to determine what
salary such a top manager receives in your area.
The next member of your staff should be an enthusiastic, hustling sales person. This
employee should be experienced and adept at selling by phone as well as in person. Unless
you can afford to pay a good direct mail advertising copywriter to create your mailing
pieces for you, it would be wise to look for direct mail advertising or copywriting
experience in the background of the sales person you expect to hire.
Your sales person should spend the mornings calling prospective employers on the phone,
and the afternoons making facetoface sales calls. With this in mind, look for
sales people with high ambition and energy levels. Try to pick the kind who'll come in
early and stay late to work on the direct mail efforts--clearing the decks so that he uses
his time during regular business hours to close sales by phone and in person. You need and
want a "closer", not an order taker.
Be as selective as you have to in choosing this salesperson. In addition to the going
rate which this type of sales person should be paid, also consider paying a percentage
bonus for each new account signed. When you find the right person, it will be worth it, so
make it attractive for someone to join your staff. Not all sales people will necessarily
develop into good sales managers, so try to find one who fits all your requirements. The
sales manager would recruit, organize, develop, motivate, and supervise your sales staff.
With those responsibilities, you'd want to offer a salary plus override on the sales
production of his staff of sales people.
You'll need an efficient and foolproof bookkeeping system to keep track of your
payroll, client billing, income taxes, work schedule, hours worked, and all the money that
comes in. For this chore, consider contracting a temporary bookkeeper with maximum
experience who you can locate from your pool of temporary workers. The fantastic number of
spreadsheet programs available for personal computers will make the task a minimal one if
it's kept up to date. If you instruct your receptionist on how to keep a simple ledger up
to date on a daily basis, you can have your temporary bookkeeper come in two or three days
a week for several hours, post the latest data to the spreadsheet, and run a hard copy of
the accounts on your printer. If your budget is tight, use the same computer for
bookkeeping that you use to test potential temporary workers in word processing and
accounting skills.
A primary member of your staff will be your receptionist. This person should be young
man or woman with superb interpersonal skills, an empathy for people, and an easy smile.
The receptionist should dress stylishly, but always neatly and professionally. When not
answering the phone or greeting customers, your receptionist can be administering tests,
doing miscellaneous typing, preparing folders for the records of your workers, and
maintaining the general office files. If you have an accounting system set up, he or she
can assist with the daily bookkeeping.
The kind of temporary workers you'll want to attract will fit into several general
categories, and can be recruited in a number of different ways. Good places to look first
will be in the business, secretarial, technical schools, and colleges in your area. To
sustain your efforts, have a brochure about your company made up, making sure the
placement directors or counselors of these training centers always have an ample supply on
hand. Many schools stage "career days" when employers are invited to set up
booths on campus and talk to the students, pass out literature, and invite the students to
visit their companies. Make sure that you know about these, and that your firm is
represented.
Another group of prospective workers will be drawn from housewives who held regular
jobs before marriage or the birth of a child, and who now want to get back into the job
market, but on their own terms. You can bring these people in by posting bulletin board
notices, arranging announcements at meetings, or with guest speaking engagements at local
clubs and organizations. And of course, you can try for guest appearances on local radio
or television talk shows. Cable television stations offer public access programming time
slots just begging to be filled. Create a video--possibly with the help of a nearby
college communications class--that tells of the benefits of temporary employment to
individuals from all walks of life. Check with your local cable television company for
more details on airing these private videos.
Another group to recruit will be the people in the 4555 age group, not satisfied
with their present positions, and looking for a better opportunity. Also focus on
individuals between major jobs who are seeking something temporary to tide them over until
the right fulltime position can be found. Older workers will most often bring with
them a wide range of experience that will make them attractive to prospective employers.
It is imperative that you begin recruiting and signing workers up as soon as
possible--at least a month before you open for business. According to industry surveys,
the most common reason for the failure of temporary help services is not having enough
workers lined up to fill the client demand. When you get a request for help, you should be
able to send out a qualified person.
Each market area differs in the number of different types of workers a temporary help
service should have available. In every case, however, it's best to have more than you
figure to be a basic need. You need not establish a maximum number of people within any
one occupational field. Workers know that you can only supply work as it is available. The
more qualified workers you have, the greater the opportunity for filling any call that
comes from an employer.
It's not hard to determine when a person is losing interest in accepting temporary job
assignments through your firm. Whenever you call to give an assignment and you can't reach
the person you're calling, try several followup calls. It should become obvious to
you that he's no longer interested if you still can't reach him with your followup
calls. It's a good practice to ask for notification of vacation or other plans that will
affect their availability for work. From time to time send out a followup letter with
a postpaid return card to prospective workers, asking if they would like to be kept
on your list of workers. If not, have them check the appropriate space, and remove them
from the list. This will save you time when a job does become available and you have to
call around looking for someone to fill the position.
As mentioned earlier, one of your major expenses will be advertising. Your manager and
sales people should keep you advised on your current advertising impact and results. From
this you will develop a good understanding of how to use your advertising budget most
effectively. Your advertising should be "doublebarrelled," aimed at both
the employer and the worker.
Generally, your efforts to add new employers to your client list should focus on direct
mail and personal visits. Advertising efforts to recruit new temporary workers should be
almost exclusively devoted to newspapers. A few temporary help agencies use radio
advertising to call for prospective workers. In a major metropolitan market this can work
well.
In designing your direct mail piece to be sent to employers, get a freelance
advertising copywriter to help you design the materials for best results. Your
advertisement should be a four page brochure making these points:
n All employers have sudden work overloads, face deadline situations, or are suddenly
left with a mountain of work for specially trained employees just when they are home sick,
on vacation, or off for an emergency.
n Your company understands these work load problems, and has available skilled,
professional replacement workers who can quickly step in and get the job done.
n Your company thoroughly tests each of the specialists hired to meet these staffing
crisis situations, and can assure the employer that they are tops in their individual
areas of expertise.
n Your company is well aware that many businesses would like to save the expense and
headaches of hiring a fulltime specialist of the same caliber as your people on a
"temporary" or "oncall" basis. Your people can be
"hired" by the prospective employer because they already work for you. When a
temporary worker is needed, your company stands ready to fill the need, regardless of the
job specialty required.
n Even if the employer doesn't need one of your people today, the need will arise
suddenly, often without warning. Your telephone number should be kept handy, and the
employer need not hesitate to call you personally for whatever temporary help is needed.
Once you have the copy written, talk with your printer and decide on the layout and
type style you want to use, what color, quality, and finish of paper to employ, and how
long the job will take. To accompany your brochure will be a short cover letter inviting
the recipient to avail himself of your services, a postage paid business reply card
requesting a salesman call or to come by to speak further with the employer, and a
preprinted Rolodex card with your company name, your name and telephone number, and a
brief reminder of all the services your temporary workers can provide.
The mailing envelope and the cover letter should be addressed to each business owner or
personnel manager by name. You can procure a mailing list of these individuals from any
number of sources. Check your yellow pages under Mailing Lists. List brokers can provide
these lists on floppy disks so that your letters can be printed by your computer and
addressed automatically with the correct information. To lower postage costs, get a bulk
rate third class postage permit, and have your permit indicia imprinted on your mailing
envelopes. Organize your mailings to get between 200 and 500 letters into the mail every
single week. Don't skimp on your direct mail advertising efforts, because this will be the
lifeblood of your success.
Your newspaper ads seeking qualified workers looking for temporary assignments should
be eyecatching display ads in the Help Wanted section. Most such ads are one column
wide by three to six inches deep. Be sure you have an ad running in the Sunday paper, and
at least one more on Wednesday or Thursday. Before you even start soliciting accounts, you
could run an ad one column by six inches deep every day for a month.
These ads should invite the readers to come in and register with your company. Work
with your copywriter to make the wording attractive to the prospective employee. Overall,
your ads should explain that you have plenty of jobs available, that the worker chooses
which days he would like to work, and can take jobs as often or as seldom as he likes.
Stress the real advantage of paychecks - on your terms--an impossibility with a
ninetofive job.
Don't forget to send out news releases to all the media in your area when you open for
business. Leave yourself open for broadcast talk show interviews, and when you promote
someone, pass special milestones, or when you become involved in unusual stories, at least
telephone the media and give them this information.
The most important requisite for your success, however, is consistent advertising. In a
city of 100,000 population you should budget at least $10,000 for your first year
advertising. Plus, get involved in as many special promotions and as much public relations
contact and publicity coverage as possible. Once you+re beyond the
"breakeven" point, you will need to allocate funds for advertising based on
your gross income.
While your manager is "running the show" on a daytoday basis, your
salesperson will be making telephone calls in the mornings and personal visits during the
afternoons. It's a very good idea to send out your direct mail advertising one week, and
then call on these same people, either by phone or in person, the next week. Remember that
your sales calls should be relaxed visits, allowing the prospect to learn more about your
business and the kinds of people you have available. During each sales call, the prospect
should be left with the feeling that your company can save him money, solve a lot of
production and scheduling problems, and take the exasperation out of his unique personnel
requirements.
As a rule, you'll find that most new jobs are called in during the afternoon hours.
With this in mind, have a set procedure for your temporary workers to have notified you
where and how they can be reached through 5:00 p.m. on any given day. When requests come
in, call to determine if they are available for a job assignment the next day. Sometimes,
you'll get a call first thing in the morning, and need to find a worker right away to send
out to a location. Begin calling your pool of prospects as soon as a job call comes in,
and give them the information over the telephone: where to go, who to see, pay rate, etc.
Getting your workers to a job site as quickly as possible will make a strong impression on
your clients.
Most temporary help agencies give their workers a supply of a threepart time card
when they're hired by the agency. When the request for a worker comes in, the most
qualified in the required category is called. Job, name of company, location, approximate
length of job, and salary are all explained. If they agree to take the offer, they fill in
the time card for the day the work begins. When they report for work, they have the time
card signed by the employer to verify starting and finishing time. One copy of the time
card stays with the employer, the temporary worker keeps a copy, and the other copy is
mailed to your office. Smooth and simple, but make sure you've got everything worked out
before you begin.
When time cards come in, your receptionist or bookkeeper notes the proper information
on the ledger for that employee, files the time card, and prepares a ledger duplicate to
be sent to the employer for billing. Workers are sent paychecks every two weeks for work
completed during the past fourteen days. As a rule, any account that hasn't paid within
thirty days should receive a telephone call and later, if still necessary, a personal
visit. Delinquent accounts past sixty days should no longer be sent temporary workers
until the delinquency is cleared.
Unlike regular employment agencies, your temporary help agency will not require special
licenses other than those required by any other business in your area. You should,
however, bond each of your employees in order to protect yourself from any possible
liability or other legal entanglements. And of course, you'll need to carry a standard
business insurance policy. If your workers stay with you for a long period of time, you
will want to offer other employment incentives such as a health insurance plan and
retirement packages.
That's it--the How, What, Why, and Where of getting started with your own profitable
temporary help service! Remember, it takes solid and consistent advertising, earnest
recruiting, and strong selling to make your business a success. So don't stop or let up
until you have everyone in your area registered and every possible client fully aware of
your business. It's a big job, with lots of challenging work. You'll need good people to
help. Search for these people with care, and hire the best possible employees--the rewards
will be well worth it! Organize your business for success, and get with it. Begin Today!!!
